Category: Uncategorized

Wasteless Pantry Bassendean News: 20 August 2019

DIY Hair Gel     

I’ve been recommended this recipe separately by two different staff members, so it must be good! It is especially good for curly hair and leaves the hair soft, smooth and smelling lovely.
Mix together 1/4 cup linseed (flaxseed) with 2 cups water. Heat in a pot until it comes to the boil (keep stirring to prevent the seeds sticking to the bottom). Turn the heat down once it starts to froth and let it continue to simmer until you reach the desired gel thickness (you don’t want it too runny or too thick). Once ready put a sieve or stocking over a container to strain out the seeds from the gel (the seeds are still good to use in your cooking or sprinkled on cereal!). Store the gel in the fridge as is, or you can add any of the following for added shine, body and fragrance: 1 tsp vitamin E oil, few drops of lavender, rosemary, tea tree essential oils (or your favourite fragrance), glycerin, macadamia oil. It can also be thinned out with water and put into an atomiser bottle for easy spritzing.
Recipe adapted from: https://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/ingredients/the-best-diy-flax-seed-hair-gel-recipe-ever

  Product News

  • We have found a new supplier of local WA Wildflower honey to tide us over until our regular supplier gets his bees back to work! We still also have the red gum honey as per usual.
  • We have added a number of new beauty products and ingredients to our existing stocks – rosehip oil, lemon essential oil, rosewater, magnesium salt flakes, avocado oil, aloe vera gel, stainless steel razors & shaving brushes, liquid deodorant plus atomiser bottles and roll-on bottles if you need something to help apply it.
  • Along with our Agreena silicone wraps and beeswax wraps, we have added fabric and silicone food wraps to help with your transition away from cling wrap.
  • Other new products in store now: hibiscus tea, stevia powder, rice wine vinegar, cinnamon sugar, 98% fat free tropical muesli.

Father’s Day
We have you covered for Father’s Day ideas, with gift vouchers, shaving kits, lollies and snacks, Dude Rock soaps, water bottles and insulated coffee mugs, and a range of teas and coffees.

In Store Recycling Changes 
Please be aware that we are no longer collecting beauty product packaging for recycling as Terracycle no longer collects these items. We are still accepting donations of the following, but please make sure to separate them before dropping off – putting them all into a single bin here in store just contaminates the recycling stream.

  • Batteries
  • Plastic bottle tops (e.g. milk bottle tops)
  • Aluminium ring pulls
  • Oral care products
  • Printer cartridges
Donated Jars
Thank you to everyone that has been donating clean, label free jars for others to reuse in store.  We are thrilled to see fewer jars with labels being donated as it is very time consuming for us to be removing them in store.  It takes us away from being able to keep goods as refilled as we would like and being able to spend more time making your time with us as enjoyable as possible.  So thank you!!

Know someone who’d like to be kept up to date with what’s happening in-store? Anyone can sign up to the newsletter here or like our Facebook page to be kept up-to-date with the latest news.


Wasteless Pantry Mundaring News: 11 August 2019

You are part of something big!

Did you know that 230 MILLION people participated in Plastic Free July this year?! Whether you made small changes or dramatic lifestyle shifts to reduce waste this month, know that everything you are doing is making a difference. The waste issues are still there, but every time you role model doing things a little bit better, you are helping to shift ‘normal’ toward better practices that help the planet and everything that is living on it. Jeannie & I now get to focus back in on the stores after being out in the community heavily spreading the waste free message, and it’s great to see old and new faces in the store. We love seeing the wide variety of containers being used over and over, especially because they are just ordinary containers. Macoona jars, jam jars, random plastic tubs, all sorts of ordinary things that everyone has available to them. Please know that you and your containers don’t need to be Instagram-able to shop with us and to make a difference. Ordinary is okay. Ordinary is great! Ordinary is what makes the world a better place. Pretty is nice, but totally unnessarily to improve things right now, today, in this moment. So bring out your ordinary and be your ordinary self. You’re in good company and we appreciate everything you are doing!

What’s been happening at the store:

* The liquid deodorant is finally in store! So if you want to go refillable on your deodorant we have scoopable paste deodorant, as well as liquid for spray or roll on application.  (We have the containers too if you need them) 

* We are gearing up for Father’s Day on Sunday 1st of September.  We have new gift vouchers available and the new shaving kits are proving very popular.  We are very excited to report that our supplier is now offering the shavers and shaving brushes without plastic in their packaging!!
* It seems that coffee is sustaining everyone on these cold days.  Just remember that we have lots of teas and drinking chocolate available too so you don’t end up with an eye twitch 

* We have recipes for dahl and soups on the wall ready for your winter cook ups.  We’re stocked up with lentils, dahl, split peas, beans, coconut milk powder, stock powders, herbs and spices for making curries, stews, roasts, dahl and soups galore.
* Thank you to everyone that has been donating clean, label free jars.  We are thrilled to see fewer jars with labels being donated as it is very time consuming for us to be removing them in store.  It takes us away from being able to keep goods as refilled as we would like and being able to spend more time making your time with us as enjoyable as possible.  So thank you!!
* You might notice that we have the Boomerang Bags box back at the front of the store.  We have plenty of fabric to keep us going for a while yet, but if you have any bags to return, please just pop them straight in the box when you are next in the area.

Waste Less, Live More

Amanda & Jeannie

Wasteless Pantry Bassendean News: 20 June 2019

This is our most exciting time of year! Our flagship store in Mundaring just had its 4th birthday and Plastic Free July is only 2 weeks away! There are plenty of resources and tools on the PFJ website to help you figure out where to start, what to do and how to do it. We strongly recommend that you actually register for the challenge – for extra support and also to help PFJ know just how much of a following there is out there.
https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/

Product News

  • We have started stocking nordic seed crackers. These delicious morsels are locally made and gluten free, and we can’t get enough of them!
  • We have ordered a range of new reusable items to help you with your Plastic Free July pledge, including: insulated tumblers and coffee mugs, silicone drinking straws, silicone and fabric food covers. They should all be in store soon.
  • We have found a WA grown loofah supply and will have them available shortly.
  • Stainless steel razors and wooden handled shaving brushes are on their way!
  • We currently have 20% off a number of products (while stocks last) including Kombucha Drinks Making Sets, Cold Brew Sets, Matcha Whisk Sets, Food on the Go 1L Jars and Snack of the Go 500ml Jars.

Brownie in a Mug  

 
For a quick and easy way to warm up on a cold evening, mix 3 tbsp brownie mix with 1.5 tbsp water in a mug and microwave on high for 50sec.
Why not mix up some custard powder and pour it over for pure decadence in just minutes!
All ingredients are available in store.

Free Talks:
Get Ready for Plastic Free July 
25th June @ 11am – 12pm
Hawaiian’s Bassendean Shopping Centre, 2 West Road, Bassendean

Come along to an interactive workshop on reducing your household waste by discovering better ways to shop and easy swaps to eliminate single-use plastics every day.
Learn about Plastic Free July and why it has become so important worldwide plus what you can do to make a difference!
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/get-ready-for-plastic-free-july-tickets-61775892357

Creating a Wasteless Home
25th July @ 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Trinity North Uniting Church, 85-89 Marlock Dve, Greenwood

Come along to an interactive workshop on reducing your household waste by discovering better ways to shop and easy swaps to eliminate single-use plastics every day.
We’ll cover a range of options for reducing waste in your: kitchen, bathroom, laundry and more
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/creating-a-wasteless-home-tickets-63546230486

Know someone who’d like to be kept up to date with what’s happening in-store? Like our Facebook page to be kept up-to-date with the latest news.


Wasteless Pantry Bassendean: 14 May 2019

  New Products!

  • We love stocking Australian products and we have just increased our range with Australian pepitas (pumkin seeds) which are high in zinc and magnesium, and premium walnuts from Manjimup.
  • White wine vinegar and golden syrup have been added to our liquids range.
  • We are now stocking the Agreena silicone wraps which are a great cling wrap alternative. They were so popular that we sold out immediately, but more are on their way!
  • Oil misters are finally in stock. Fill with your favourite oil and spritz onto your salad or baking trays.

Are you looking to join an enthusiastic team of waste-free living advocates? We currently have a casual position available for someone to join our team and would love to hear from you. If you are interested, please send through your resume to bassendean@wastelesspantry.com.au by May 21st.
 

Wasteless Winter

We’ve got everything to keep you warm and healthy this winter:

  • Handkerchiefs
  • Golden syrup, honey, brown sugar and dried fruit to go with your porridge oats. Or use our fruity muesli in place of those flavoured porridge sachets
  • Insulated food and beverage flasks for taking your hot food and drinks out and about.
  • Luscious moisturiser and body lotion to keep your skin supple
  • Beans and lentils for warming soups and stews
  • Black and herbal teas and coffees
  • Free recipe cards for everything from soups to body butter to help you out in the kitchen at home

   Free Talk: Get Ready for Plastic Free July 
25th June @ 11am – 12pm
Hawaiian’s Bassendean Shopping Centre, 2 West Road, Bassendean

Come along to an interactive workshop on reducing your household waste by discovering better ways to shop and easy swaps to eliminate single-use plastics every day.
Learn about Plastic Free July and why it has become so important worldwide plus what you can do to make a difference!
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/get-ready-for-plastic-free-july-tickets-61775892357

Let us Shop for You          Did you know that we can do your shopping for you? Just drop off your containers or a shopping list and we can get all your goodies together while you’re at other shops or taking a relaxing break with a coffee.

Know someone who’d like to be kept up to date with what’s happening in-store? Anyone can sign up to the newsletter here or like our Facebook page to be kept up-to-date with the latest news.


Wasteless Pantry Mundaring News: 10 May 2019

Let your Mum know you love her this Mother’s Day (hint, hint kiddies) 🙂

What’s been happening:

  • The Agreena Silicone Baking/Wraps have arrived and seem very popular so we’ve had to order more!
  • Terracycle created an updated poster about what we can and can’t collect in the beauty product recycling – please check it out next time you are in store.
  • Jeannie & I are almost fully booked for Plastic Free July related talks so will be out and about in the community throughout May, June & July – pop along and say “Hi”.
  • We started stocking WA grown walnuts – woot woot!
  • Did you know that our golden syrup goes beautifully with porridge? And that our muesli can be cooked up as an easy and cheaper flavoured porridge instead of those little packet ones? 
  • Food flasks are back in stock ready for warm lunches away from home.  They come in 400ml and 600ml sizes, are made with stainless steel and keep either food or beverages warm throughout the day.
  • We have plenty of handkerchiefs ready for cold & flu season too.  At home, we store them in a tin in the family room, that way they are always on hand.  Use them once and throw them in the wash or over and over depending on your preferences.  Whether you use a hanky or a tissue, remember to wash your hands after blowing your nose to limit the spread of germs.
  • It’s Honey Month!!  Celebrate by grabbing some of our locally sourced zero waste honey in your own container – no sugar syrup in these beauties and our beekeepers don’t feed their bees sugar either. Healthy bees are important!
  • As the cooler weather starts drying out skin, remember that we have our thick luscious moisturiser as well as our versatile body lotion available to keep your skin feeling its best.

Waste Less, Live More

Amanda & Jeannie


Wasteless Pantry Bassendean News: 25th March 2019

            New Products!

Lots of exciting things happening at Wasteless Pantry Bassendean at the moment!

  • Vitamin E oil is now in stock for use as a moisturiser or ingredient in your home made beauty products.
  • Our new 15ml and 30ml aluminium tins are a great size for our scoopable deodorants and lip balm. Our bicarb-free deodorant is just $3.90 for a full 30ml tin!
  • Did you celebrate International Women’s Day? We are very pleased that this year the ‘luxury’ tax was removed from feminine hygiene products.  This means that reusable menstrual cups and pads are even more cost-effective as well as a great way to reduce waste.
  • We’ve added to our cleaning range with a disinfectant concentrate from EnviroClean.
  • We’re all ready for a waste-free Easter with our ‘naked’ large and mini milk and dark chocolate eggs. The dark eggs are dairy-free so also suitable for vegans. If you’re not into chocolate then our hollow wooden eggs can be filled with whatever you like. We’ve tried to stock up enough but please be mindful that we sold out at our Mundaring store last year.
  • The Family Hub Organics have created a luscious lightweight body lotion for us. It contains organic ingredients, no palm oil, is vegan, and is available unscented or with a grapefruit scent depending on your preference. Their products are very gentle and suitable for the most sensitive skin. Come in store to try it out now.
  • Sweet potato chips and veggie chips are here and they’re delicious. After much searching we’ve even managed to get them palm oil free.
  • To help you be an environmental pet owner we now have whitebait and kangaroo jerky pet treats, and scented and unscented dog/pet soap. This is in addition to the dog, cat and puppy food that we already stock. Reports are that even the fussiest cats and dogs are happy!
  • We have been stocking Perth Soapworks shampoo and conditioner bars for a little while, but we now have duo packs in large, medium, and trial size so you can try them out before committing to a large bar. They have also provided us with detergent bars for dish washing which have been very popular!
  • Start saving up your plastic bottle tops and rings (e.g. milk lids) as very soon we will be adding this to our existing recycling collection.

Want a FREE Chocolate Easter Egg?

Come in store between April 8 – 14 and spend over $40 in one transaction to receive one free palm oil-free, locally made, delicious chocolate easter egg!

Vegan Seitan Steak Recipe
Seitan is a chewy, protein-packed, meat-like food made from gluten flour (also called vital wheat gluten). Follow this recipe from ItDoesn’tTasteLikeChicken.com for a delicious tasting vegan steak! Gluten flour, plus almost all of the other spices and marinade liquids, can be purchased from the Wasteless Pantry for a fraction of the cost of buying vegan meat from a specialty store.
https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/vegan-seitan-steak/

Know someone who’d like to be kept up to date with what’s happening in-store? Anyone can sign up to the newsletter here or like our Facebook page to be kept up-to-date with the latest news.


Meet the Wasteless Pantry Bassendean Team

We really love being part of our community and getting to know you all. We thought that perhaps you would want to get to know us better too!

All smiles from Shantelle, Caroline & James 🙂

James is a university graduate who studied in the field of molecular genetics. His hobbies include violin, hockey, music and a growing passion for sustainability. James was a part of the original Wasteless Pantry team when the flagship store opened in 2015.

Hi I’m Caroline! I’ve been transitioning to a low impact lifestyle since 2015 and I love having a go at any DIY I can. I love gardening, reading and investing back into my local community by facilitating arts and handmade workshops. Currently I spend most of my time working on getting my masters degree in Education and dreaming of building a tiny house!

Shantelle joined the team at the opening of the Bassendean store. Her previous experience includes copywriting for radio and truck driving in the mines. In her spare time, Shantelle loves cooking, hanging out with her pet rabbits, and trying to set up her garden for sustainable living!

Nice to meet you and looking forward to seeing you again soon!


Wasteless Pantry Mundaring News: 14th Mar 2019

Did you know that the bathroom is usually the second most wasteful room in the house?  This month we have been working hard at giving you all the tools you need to change that, easily!

What’s been happening at the store?

  • We got in more 15ml and 30ml aluminium tins, which are a much better size for our scoopable deodorants and lip balm.  We’ve had a few community members freaking out about the cost of the deodorant after they filled a 150ml tin – which is about a years worth of deodorant!! Our bicarb free deodorant is only $3.90 for 30g so very affordable!
  • Did you celebrate International Women’s Day? We were very pleased that this year the ‘luxury’ tax was removed from feminine hygiene products.  This means that reusable menstrual cups and pads are even more cost-effective as well as a great way to reduce waste.
  • We’re all stocked up ready for Easter with wooden refillable eggs, palm oil free and locally made milk or dark chocolate Easter eggs.  The dark eggs are also dairy free so suitable for vegans!  We have the large hollow as well as the small solid eggs again, depending on your preferences.  We’ve tried to stock up enough but please be mindful that we sold out last year.
  • The Family Hub Organics have created a luscious lightweight body lotion for us that you can grab refills of at your convenience.  It contains organic ingredients, no palm oil, is vegan, and is available unscented or with a grapefruit scent depending on your preference. Their products are very gentle and suitable for the most sensitive skin.
  • Sweet potato chips are back!! We finally found a supplier that doesn’t bake them in palm oil – yay!!
  • Golden syrup is now available, just in time for Anzac biscuits 🙂
  • Scented dog soap, as well as whitebait or kangaroo pet treats, are available too.
  • We have lots of new bars including trial sizes of locally made, palm oil free shampoo bars, conditioner bars and Dishwashing Bars!
  • We are trying out Birthday Bunting – you can buy, order one in custom colours or hire depending on your preferences.
  • New stocks of unpaper towels have arrived in the cutest fabrics from our supplier who makes them here in WA.

Coming next:

  • Jeannie and I are gearing up for lots of talks and workshops out in the community.
  • We are also looking into shifting even more of our products to local suppliers.  Did you know that well over 300 of our products are made in Australia and quite a few of those like our Sprayfree pecans and white quinoa are grown in WA?

 Waste Less, Live More

Amanda & Jeannie


Wasteless Pantry Bassendean News: 29th Nov 2018

What’s been happening at Wasteless Pantry Bassendean this month:

  • We changed our opening hours slightly so that those who can’t get in until after work still have time to come shopping with us. Our new hours are: Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 11am-5pm
  • We had a stall at the Bassendean Spring Mini Market, with lots of products for people to taste test, including chocolate brownie, regular & gluten-free Christmas cake, apple cranberry nut loaf, and flat bread with hummus. There are recipe cards for all these items in-store.
  • Start collecting your bread bag tags for our new recycling container. The tags are used to raise money to buy wheelchairs for adults and children in South Africa. More information about the program can be found here: http://www.breadtagsforwheelchairs.co.za/
  • New food products we have in stock: apricot logs, sweet chilli lime soya crisps, gluten free cereal, vegan dark chocolate, cacao butter, ground black pepper, lemongrass tea, and carob buttons.
  • New merchandise we have in stock include cold brew and breakfast jar sets which, along with our fermentation kits, are perfect for Christmas gifts!
  • We have added beeswax beads and activated charcoal to our beauty counter, to add to the existing shea butter, clay, essential oils and other base ingredients that we stock.

What’s next:

  • We will have some tastings in-store so that you can check out our products. Come in on Saturday 1st December to try out some chocolate bark (chocolate, cranberries and pistachio – yum!)
  • We are starting to put together gift jars (things like choc chip cookie mix, chocolate brownie mix, seed cracker mix) and gift hampers (waste-free starter kits, hampers for the coffee or tea lover, etc) to help you out with your Christmas shopping. Come in store and check them out!
  • We are in the process of looking into getting package free lip balm, bicarb-free deodorant, and facial soaps! Very exciting!

Know someone who’d like to be kept up to date with what’s happening in-store? Anyone can sign up to the newsletter here or like our Facebook page to be kept up-to-date with the latest news.


Wasteless Pantry Mundaring News: 23rd Nov 2018

Did you know that we were finalists in this years WA Waste Authority Infinity Awards? 

Drum roll, please…

Highly Commended Waste Team of the Year!

We were very happy with this result and were absolutely thrilled for all the other finalists, commended and winners that we got to meet on the night!  So many great people doing great things to avoid, reduce and recover waste in WA right now.

What’s been happening at the store:

  • If you haven’t been in lately, it is worth ducking your head through the door to check out the little revamp we had.  Although the layout is much the same, we’ve made thoroughfare areas just a little roomer where we can and made the whole place a bit brighter. Plus the specialist recycling station was upgraded to make it more user-friendly.
  • Our new beauty counter is all set up for you to start your DIY face & body treat making too!  We now have beeswax beads and activated charcoal to add to the shea butter, clay, essential oils and other base ingredients we have been stocking for a while now.
  • We’re not putting up the Christmas decorations just yet, but we are starting to make preparations.  Below are articles from the archives about being festive without the waste hangover that might be helpful, and we have gift jars ready to go if you have an event coming up that you want something quick and delightful to give.

Win the War on Waste This Christmas

Super Easy & Zero Waste Entertaining

Zero Waste Christmas Cake

Practical Gift Giving Guide

The 12 Wasteless Days of Christmas

  • We have Vegan Dark Chocolate!!!! Belinda says that it “is like being slapped in the face with chocolate” which I think is a good thing 🙂
  • Cacao butter is back! And we have a Gluten Free Cereal that doubles as a Gluten Free Porridge, Teff and Black Sesame Seeds.
  • Some more fantastic news? Onya is working toward creating a circular economy within their business and are now partnering with TerraCycle. So if for some reason your Onya products are no longer functioning as well as they should (which is a VERY rare occurrence) then we are able to return them to Onya to be recycled responsibly. How brilliant is that!
  • If you have any Boomerang Bags stashed at your place, please pop them back in the box at our store or Hills Fresh to keep them circulating where they are needed most.

Coming soon:

  • Scoopable deodorant!! We’ve been trialling this at the new Bassendean store and it has been hugely popular so now we are bringing it to Mundaring.  Plus there is a bicarb free one in the works for those with sensitive skin too!
  • Sealpod has just released a reusable coffee pod for Dolce Gusto machines which we will be stocking shortly.
  • We also have locally made, palm oil free scoopable vegan lip balm as well as facial, shaving, dog & stain remover soaps coming too!

Waste Less, Live More

Amanda & Jeannie